China culls birds as flu deaths mount

April 5 - Shanghai authorities cull poultry as the death toll from bird flu rises. Hong Kong authorities suspect a girl who recently travelled to Shanghai has contracted the virus. Lily Grimes reports.

▲ Hide Transcript

▶ View Transcript

China faces a new type of bird flu.
Mainland China has six confirmed deaths from a deadly new strain of the virus known as H7N9.
And on Friday authorities slaughtered over 20,000 birds at this poultry market in Shanghai which has now been closed down.
There are 14 confirmed cases of the H7N9 virus, all of them in eastern China. At least four of the dead are in Shanghai.
At this hospital in the Chinese financial hub doctors say one bird flu patient is fighting for his life in intensive care.
The World Health Organisation said there was no sign of "sustained human-to-human transmission.''
WHO scientists are analysing samples of the virus in case a vaccine is needed.
Meanwhile Hong Kong's government confirmed the city's first suspected case of H7N9 bird flu, found in a seven-year-old girl who had recently travelled to mainland China.

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: